"Trap Rock (hammer and haul truck)" (2006)

"When you photograph the real world, you cannot escape the reality of it. But I think the magic of photography happens when you can escape the facts- the factual aspect of what’s being represented. One is always striving to suggest something beyond what is described. It’s something I’m very aware of. Someone who doesn’t know straight photography would have issues with this and, maybe, would see my work as plain documentary. It does describe certain facts. But I think the strength of it comes from what I can suggest that was not in the photograph at first- what was not in what I saw, and not in the situation itself."
- An-My Lê
...

"When you photograph the real world, you cannot escape the reality of it. But I think the magic of photography happens when you can escape the facts- the factual aspect of what’s being represented. One is always striving to suggest something beyond what is described. It’s something I’m very aware of. Someone who doesn’t know straight photography would have issues with this and, maybe, would see my work as plain documentary. It does describe certain facts. But I think the strength of it comes from what I can suggest that was not in the photograph at first- what was not in what I saw, and not in the situation itself."